The mikromedia 5 for Tiva is a complete hand-held multimedia development system with a five-inch 800×480-pixel TFT touchscreen display. The central part of the system is the Texas Instruments TM4C129XNCZAD Tiva ARM Cortex-M4 microcontroller. It has 120MHz operation, 1MB of Flash, 256KB of SRAM, a µDMA controller, an on-chip LCD controller, and a lot more.

The number of modules integrated on a single PCB is remarkable. These include communications interfaces like the popular CC3000 WiFi module, a Nordic nRF24L01P 2.4GHz RF transceiver, and an Ethernet connector with LAN filter. It has 8MB SDRAM that you can use to store images and resources for the large TFT touchscreen with a performance boost. The VS1053 Stereo Audio Codec with quadrupole audio jack allows MP3 audio reproduction. A microSD card slot is available for storing external resources.

An ADXL345 Serial Accelerometer helps detecting the screen orientation. A Li-Polymer Battery Charger and a battery connector allow the board to have an autonomous battery power supply. A discrete On/Off switch is provided. A piezo buzzer can provide audible signals. An RTC battery backup will retain date/time settings.

Perhaps the most significant feature is the integrated mikroProg for Tiva ICDI debugger, so you can program and debug without needing to purchase any additional hardware.

mikromedia 5 for Tiva Board Overview

The front side is dominated by a 5" touchscreen in 800×480 resolution. Along the edges of the screen, the board features an RGB LED, an Infrared Receiver Diode, a Light Sensor, a Reset Button, and a Temperature Sensor. All four display corners feature screw holes for easier integration. The two longer sides of the board contain 1×26 connection pads which can provide an interface to external electronics or a mikromedia 5 Shield (which will be available soon).

The 6-layer PCB with silkscreen markings guarantees excellent signal integrity at high speeds. The mikromedia 5 for Tiva is supported in mikroC PRO for ARM, mikroBASIC PRO for ARM and mikroPascal PRO for ARM compilers, and in the Visual TFT software for rapid creation of TFT GUIs. Demo versions of those software packages are available; follow those links and find download links on the bottom of each page. mikromedia 5 for Tiva software examples both as ready-to-load compiled code and as source code are available to download at the bottom of this page.

The mikromedia 5 for Tiva ships with a 2GB microSD card, four metal spacers, a plastic stylus for the touch panel, an Ethernet roll cable, a USB roll cable, and two strips of 1×26 headers that you can solder onto the through-hole expansion pads. A user manual and board schematic are included also. The board comes pre-loaded with an example for a nice out-of-the-box experience.

Four power supply methods

You can apply power to the board using the provided Mini-B USB cable in the standard USB port CN2 or while connected to the debug USB port CN9. You also can use its battery connector, or using its barrel jack connector. The USB connection can provide up to 500mA of current, which is more than enough for the operation of the microcontroller and all on-board modules. When using Li-Poly battery, an LM3658SD-A charging circuit permits the battery to be charged via either USB connector or the barrel jack. A red LED indicates charging status. Power via the jack should be between 5V and 12V DC. A green LED will indicate the presence of power supply.

Programming the mikromedia

The mikromedia 5 for Tiva comes with an integrated mikroProg for Tiva with a mini-USB interface, so you can program the board with the free mikroProg for ARM software suite. Connection with a PC is established over ICDI USB connector CN9. If you do want to use an external programmer/debugger, a standard 10-pin Cortex Debug connector is on board too supporting JTAG, Serial Wire Debug and Serial Wire Viewer operations (via SWO connection when Serial Wire Debug mode is used).

Reset Button

The board is equipped with a reset button on the LCD side so it can be available to the user if the mikromedia is placed in an enclosure or has a shield attached.

RTC Battery Holder

A battery holder is provided so the RTC module can continue to keep time while the primary power source is switched off or unavailable. The holder supports CR1216, CR1220 and CR1225 batteries.

Crystal Oscillator and VREF

The board is equipped with a 25 MHz crystal oscillator circuit that provides an external clock waveform to the microcontroller OSC1 and OSC2 pins. This base frequency is suitable for further clock multipliers and ideal for generation of a necessary USB clock, which ensures proper operation of the mikroProg and your custom USB-based applications. The board also contains a 32.768 kHz crystal oscillator which provides an external clock for the internal RTCC module. A 2.048V external voltage reference is provided for the microcontroller's ADC.

microSD Card Slot

The board contains a microSD card slot for using microSD cards in your projects. It enables you to store large amounts of data externally, thus saving microcontroller memory. microSD cards use Serial Peripheral Interface (SPI) for communication with the microcontroller. Ferrite and a capacitor are provided to compensate for voltage and current glitches than can occur when inserting or ejecting the microSD card.

Touch Screen

The development system features a 5" TFT 800×480 display covered with a resistive touch panel. It enables data to be entered and displayed at the same time. The TFT display is capable of showing data in 16.7 million different colors. A stylus is included.

Audio Module

mikromedia 5 for Tiva features a VS1053 audio codec. This chip enables audio reproduction and recording by using a headphones/microphone set connected to the system via the quadrupole 3.5mm jack. All functions of this module are controlled by the microcontroller over Serial Peripheral Interface (SPI). In and Out channels are provided on side headers also.

USB Connection

The TM4C129XNCZAD has an integrated USB module which enables you to implement USB communication functionality to the mikromedia 5 board. Connection to a target USB Host is achieved with a Mini-B USB connector. The same connector also can be used as a USB Host itself for connecting a USB Device such as a keyboard, mouse, etc. The board supplies power to the TPS2041B IC. Note: As the USB port is a Mini-B connector, you will need a Mini-B to Type-A adapter to use it as a USB Host.

Accelerometer

The on-board ADXL345 accelerometer can be used to measure acceleration in three axes: x, y, and z. The accelerometer's function is defined by the program loaded into the microcontroller. Communication between the accelerometer and the microcontroller is performed via the I2C interface.

SDRAM

The high-speed 64 Mbit (8 MByte) M12L64164A SDRAM is organized internally as 4 × 1,048,576 words by 16 bits. The SDRAM provides for programmable read or write burst lengths of 1/2/4/8 locations or the full page, with a burst-terminate option. The SDRAM is connected to the microcontroller via dedicated 16-bit parallel interface providing a high-speed data rate for more demanding multimedia applications, such as TFT diplay.

RF Transceiver

The mikromedia 5 for Tiva features an nRF24L01P RF transceiver chip and a 2.4GHz chip antenna. It is suitable for wireless operation in the worldwide ISM frequency band at 2.400 to 2.4835 GHz with air data rate up to 2Mbps. The chip is connected to the microcontroller via SPI.

Ethernet Connector

The microcontroller has an integrated 10/100 Ethernet controller. The mikromedia 5 board contains a standard RJ45 connector and a 10/100/1000M LAN pulse transformer and filter. The front side of the board has three Ethernet status LEDs.

Piezo Buzzer

The board is equipped with an SPT-1325A piezo buzzer, connected to microcontroller pin N18, which can be used to create sound via PWM signal. Signal frequency determines the pitch of the sound, while the signal duty cycle can be used to increase or decrease the volume.

WiFi Module

mikromedia 5 for Tiva features a CC3000 WiFi 802.11b/g network processor chip and a 2.4GHz ceramic chip antenna. The CC3000's integrated IPv4 TCP/IP stack and built-in network protocols simplify implementation of internet connectivity and minimize software requirements of the host microcontroller. The module also has an integrated EEPROM which stores firmware patches, network configuration, MAC address, and 5KB of user data. The module is connected to the microcontroller via SPI.

PIN Photodiode

The PIN photodiode is capable of converting light into voltage with high sensitivity and response speed. It is connected to an analog pin of the microcontroller. You can use this to have the system automatically adjust the screen backlight based on the ambient light level, for example.

IR Receiver

The IR receiver can be used for infra-red remote control of the board. The demodulated output signal from the IR module can be decoded by the microcontroller. Many standard data format standards are supported.

RGB LED

A multicolor LED is provided for you to implement a light indicator into your design. Each of the Red/Green/Blue channels is driven separately by transistor.

Analog Temperature Sensor

The MCP9700A analog temperature sensor converts temperature to analog voltage. It is connected to an analog pin of the microcontroller. It can measure from -20°C to +70°C.

Expansion Options

The expansion pads on the sides of the board allow you to connect the mikromedia 5 for Tiva Shield which adds a CAN PHY/interface, a USB-UART controller/interface, audio Line In/Out screw terminals, and sockets for connecting four mikroBUS modules. More than 70 mikroBUS modules are available; see the mikroBUS category.